OTTAWA — Ottawa-based Hotel Communication Network (HCN) is changing the way hotels do business. The Canadian tech company has developed in-room tablets for hotel guests, giving them access to the Internet, room service (from the hotel as well as local restaurants), wake-up calls, directions and the soon-to-be launched 24/7 concierge service.
“It’s an entirely new level of communications and service between the hotel and its guests,” says Barry Brisco, chief operating officer and a founding partner of the Hotel Communication Network. “It literally changes the way [hotels] do business.”
HCN says its services provide cost savings for hotel operators who no longer have to spend money on printing materials. Instead, all information can be updated instantaneously via the tablets.
To date, the company’s tablets can be found in the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel and the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. Brisco says 80 per cent of clients staying at hotels with the in-room tablets are using them and he expects HCN to quadruple its business in the next six months.
